Sunland Derby Cancelled As Sunland Park Shuts Down Live Racing

The Sunland Derby, a $700,000 Road to the Kentucky Derby prep race scheduled to be run next Sunday, March 22, has been cancelled. Sunland Park announced on Sunday that it will comply with the New Mexico governor's request to shut down operations for two to three weeks in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Yesterday afternoon we received a call at about 12:30 from [Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham]'s office,” Sunland general manager Rick Baugh said in a video posted on Twitter Sunday by Felix Chavez of the El Paso Times. “For the safety and welfare of the general public, as well as our employees, and the community–as well as Sunland Park, [nearby] El Paso, Texas, they have asked us to cease operations for two to three weeks… We're falling in line with the school systems. The reason for this is that the Governor wants to get ahead of the curve and reduce the bell curve [of infections]. She wants to make sure that we don't end up in a situation similar to California and New York.”

Also on Sunday, Churchill Downs announced the suspension of simulcasting operations and of the historic racing terminals at Derby City Gaming. The voluntary suspension is scheduled to last 14 days.